Xmen Revisited, Chapter 1:The return
by Kindar
Summary: in my own X-men Universe. Peter returns from the dead and his closest friends need to find out how, why it was done and if they can still trust him. Stars Scott, Henry, Ororo, Katherine, Peter and a slew of other characters. feel free to review
1. Chapter 1

The dining room felt heavy to Scott as he watched some of the closest people to him leave it. Peter's shoulders were slumped, his face was pale and looked much holder than he was. There had been angry words exchanged before he seemed to simply give up.

Katherine got up almost as soon as Peter did and reached up to him, but he yanked his arm away. She looked at his disappearing back with shock. Ororo stood up and wrapped an arm around her. Katherine rested her head on the taller woman's chest and let herself be guided out of the room.

Scott leaned against the wall and took off his glasses to rub the bridge o his nose. He put them in his shirt pocket and released in breath; this hadn't been a conversation he ever thought he'd have. He opened his eyes to look at Henry. "So Mac," he asked his oldest friend, "what'd you think?"

Henry sat at the end of a large dinning table, looking off in space, clearly lost in thoughts. His expression didn't change at the sound of Scott's voice. And when he finally spoke his voice even seemed to come from far away. "I don't know that to think. This makes very little sense. All the tests I ran show that this is Peter Rasputin, but the scans I took of the grave also show that we buried Peter Rasputin one year ago. There's barely enough here to hazard a guess.

Scott remained silent, waiting for him to continue. "Mac," he said when it became obvious he wouldn't, "I'm Kirk, you're Spock, the fourth movie."

Henry didn't react at first; then he blinked, slowly focusing on the outside world. He frowned slightly as the words registered, and then smiled. He rubbed a hand across his face, after two days of constant test he was in bad need of a shave. "All right, my best guess then." He paused, ordering his thoughts. "Do you remember when we took down Genietech?"

It was Scott's turn to frown. "That's the company that was doing illegal experiments on mutants, two years ago I think."

"Correct. We had to split up. Peter went for the generators. We were out of contact with him for about five minutes before we reached his position. We found him unconscious, covered in blood. And here we are now, Peter appears at our door steps, but doesn't remember anything of the last two years."

Scott left the wall and put his hands on the table. "Are you saying that they replaced him then?"

Henry shook his head. "Even the most generous theory on cloning doesn't allow for something that fast."

"Then what?"

Henry rested his elbows on the oak table and entwined his fingers together. "Even today cloning is still in its infancy. The facilities needed for such an endeavor would have to be enormous. They would also need the best scientific minds and probably an unlimited supply of funds. It's doubtful it could actually be done, but if anyone were to be able, it would be them."

"Except that we took them down."

"You don't believe that any more than I do. You read the reports. We might have stopped Genietech, but they were nothing more than one cog in a very large machine." He paused and looked at Scott. "What I think happened is gained access to his genetic material, either during that fight, or came back for it after we left and started attempting to clone him. They were probably unsuccessful until recently."

"How do you explain his memories then? He knows things only the original Peter could know."

"There are theories indicating that a DNA strand can hold all of our memories, compressed more efficiently than anything we can do." Henry shrugged helplessly. "Or maybe they simply had access to a machine that was capable of making a copy of his mind.

Scott hung his head "you do realize what that means."

Henry nodded sadly "I don't have access to anything that can tell us how it was done, or what else might have been done to his mind. I do know someone who does, but you're not going to like it."

"Tell me," Said Scott after a moment of silence.

"We'd have to talk with Thomas' boss."

Scott sighed, "You're right. I don't like it." He rubbed the bridge of his nose again. "Alright, ask Tom. Tell him only what you think he'll need to know to convince his boss to meet."

* * * * *

Henry drove up to their house, Thomas and he had bought it to celebrate their first year together. Now, a year later, there was still much to be done, but it was slowly getting closer to matching their hopes for it.

The smell of cooking enveloped him as he entered. He quietly made his way to the kitchen, avoiding stepping on the shadows. There he found Thomas, still wearing his dress shirt and black office pants, busying himself over the stove.

Henry wrapped his arms around him and kissed his neck "Something smells very good, and spicy."

Thomas smiled "We're having lasagna a la Black." He presented the wooden spoon covered in sauce to him.

"Tastes promising," he said after a taste, "do I have time for a shower?"

"I just need to build it and throw it in the oven. Forty five minutes. I could even join you." Thomas finished with a mischievous grin.

Henry nibbled on his ear "I'd rather you didn't. We burnt enough food this week."

* * * * *

"How was your day?" Thomas asked as he cut the lasagna on his place.

Henry swallowed the piece he's already stared on. "This is very good. It was good. Did a few experiments, some consulting and helped Scott is one of his private projects. You know; the usual." He took a swallow from the red wine Thomas had served with the meal. "How was yours?"

"Thanks, and it was good too. Processed some bad guys, over saw some operations, you know, the usual." He looked at Henry over his glass of wine.

They could only maintain the serious expression for a second before breaking into smiles.

"You know," Thomas said, "if you joined the Agency we wouldn't have to constantly skirt the subjects of out day. We could actually talk about it."

Henry reached out to caress his lover's face, then laced his finger through the man's jet black hair and pulled him in a tender kiss. "The same would be true if you left the Agency and came to work with us. We could certainly use a man with your expertise."

Thomas looked at Henry tenderly. "You know I can't do that. The agency's in my blood."

Henry smiled. "And I'm not willing to abandon my consulting work. I guess we'll just have to continue dancing around what we do when discussing out days."

Thomas chuckled as he took the empty plates from the table. "It's a good think I like to dance then."

Henry followed him in the kitchen with the glasses. "And you're quite good at it," He said, grabbing the other man's arm when the dishes were in the sink and pulling him close; before dipping him on his back and bring back to his feet.

Thomas kissed him passionately before pushing hi away so they could wash the dishes. They did that by hand. They only used the dishwasher when they had guest over and they preferred spending their time entertaining.

Once the last of them were put away Henry leaned against the counter and Thomas leaned into him. The larger man draped his arms over the chest of the smaller one and they were silent for a few minutes, simply enjoying the feel of their bodies against each other.

"I have a favor to ask," Henry finally said.


	2. Chapter 2

The corvette took the sharp turn way too fast. Henry down shifted, applied the brakes only as hard as needed and then accelerated quickly enough to avoid skidding out of control.

"I really wish you didn't drive this fast on a gravel road," Scott said once they were out of the turn.

"In that case you should have chosen the car yourself."

"Somehow I keep expecting someone with your IQ to understand the danger of driving too fast.

"Someone with my intellect knows to drive at a speed his enhanced reflexes can handle. And considering that you had me modify your bike so it could do 200 miles per hour, your argument loses some of its impact." Henry none the less slowed down as he took the last turn. Once out of it they saw the black sedan parked ahead.

The driver's door opened as Henry brought the Corvette to a soft stop and a man in military uniform got out. They got out of the Corvette and a man in Military fatigue got out of the back seat of the sedan.

He nodded to them. "Mr. Summers, Mr. McCoy." Both sides studied each other. "Thomas, stand guard while Mr. Summers and I have our discussion."

"Yes Sir."

Scott looked at Henry, "why don't you keep the Commander's man company."

"Of course," he replied, smiling broadly.

Scott followed the commander along a path which led to an old wooden bridge. The Commander leaned down on the guard rail, looking down at the water, while Scott leaned back on the opposite one.

"My wife and I used to come here when we had important matters to discuss." He was silent for a moment. "From what Thomas tells me you have a problem."

Scott studied the back of the man who, more often then not, represented the part of the government who caused his kind problems. "One of my best friends comes back to us after being dead for a year." He finally said. The commander turned while Scott tried to order his thoughts. He didn't want to give this man any more information then he had to. "We're confident it has something to do with the company we took down 2 years ago. For a while we thought that was the end of it, but we started getting some intelligence not long after that from . . ." He tried to choose the right word, but the commander cut him off.

"You won't get Thomas in trouble for telling me he's your source. I told him to leak those reports to you."

Scott was surprised. "I didn't think you were allowed to do that." The commander simply shrugged. "Then you know that who ever was behind Genietech is still around."

"And your problem is that you don't know if you can trust this clone."

"Peter. His name is Peter."

The commander studied him. "Alright Mr. . . . Alright Scott. You don't know if you can trust Peter."

Scott nodded slowly. "It's tearing me apart. He saved my life more than once, but now, when I look at him, I find myself questioning his every motive." He turned and looked down in the stream. He slammed his hand on the rail "I should be happy that he's back. Not doubting him at every turn." He took a few calming breath. "Mac ran every test he could. Physically he is Peter, as impossible as it seems. What I need to know is if he's still Peter in here." He tapped his head with a finger. "We don't have what's needed to find that out."

They were both silent for a moment. "Alright, I'm willing to help." Scott frowned, and then looked at him over his shoulder. "And now you're wondering why I'm making this so easy for you."

Scott turned to face him. "Yes. I am."

The commander walked to his side of the bridge and gazed in the water. "No matter what the official policy is regarding mutants. No matter what the current administration is trying to do and the orders I'm given, I respect you, your friends and what you are doing.

"Maybe you don't go around saving the world every month. So what, that's not your job, it's mine. What you're doing is even more important in my eyes. You're showing the government, the world, but more importantly other mutants that it's possible to work within society without sacrificing your freedom or your dignity. Mr. McCoy's consulting business, the help Ms. Monroe gives farmers, the work you, and Ms. Pride do with construction and security companies. Those are things you setup as private citizens, not as someone's political pawn.

"I also know that you're involved in convincing the Renegades to step down their attacks. As a consequence New York State has the lowest rate of Renegade activity. Because of what you have done ten of them left to enter to work force."

Scott stood strait in surprise "They left?"

The commander nodded. "I take it you didn't know."

"I'm not exactly a popular figure among them. They regard me as a sellout. Every meeting is hell to arrange, and they don't exactly receive me with open arms when I get there. Hell the reason they stepped down their activities has as much to do with the way you've been handling them then as my influence."

The commander chuckled "You'd be surprise at how much flack I've been getting internally over my 'soft stance' on mutant affairs. I doubt I'll be kept around if there isn't a change of administration at the next election."

Scott nodded thoughtfully. He had never considered that the commander might not be always there. From his point of view he was exactly the kind of leader each division of the Agency needed. "When would Peter's exam be?"

"I'm going to have to call you tomorrow to let you know. I want my best person on this and I'm going to have to get her to shuffle some of her projects around for him."

"Call Mac then, I'm going to be in the field tomorrow. Tom can give you his number, if you don't already have it. The others are going to want to come to. At the very least Kate's going to insist on being there."

The commander nodded "That won't be a problem."

* * * * *

They walked back to the cars to find Henry sitting against a tree, Thomas reclining against him. Henry's arms were draped over his shoulders, Thomas holding them lightly.

From where Scott was watching they didn't seem to have a care in the world. He was also certain they didn't realize they were both tracing designs on each other's arms with a finger.

The commander cleared his throat.

Scott was surprised Thomas didn't jump at Attention. Instead he slowly opened his eyes.

"While I didn't actually expect you to remain standing when I told you to stand guard, I did expect you to remain alert."

Scott found himself nodding as the commander spoke, although he had to suppress a smile.

It was Henry who answered. "I was able to hear your entire conversation. I would have heard anyone who approached."

"And there's enough shadows," continued Thomas, "that it would be impossible for anyone to move close to us without me feeling it." They both stood, leisurely dusting themselves off.

* * * * *

The corvette raced away from the meeting place.

"You know, I can't believe you two. You've been together what? Two years? I'd have thought that you'd be able to keep you hands off each others by now.

"My dear Scott, as a member of the perpetually single, I'm afraid your opinion holds very little weight," answered Henry as he took a sharp turn, "after all, the fact that you were unable to make it work between you and Ororo, something I expected to be a sure thing, indicates that you lack what is needed to understand why Thomas and I touch. He took another sharp turn. "You never did tell me why it hadn't worked out."

Scott thought back on the few months he and Ororo were together and winced internally "Let's just say it's best for everyone if we are only friends."

* * * * *

Henry finished looking through the calculations on his screen. "I see what you mean Stephen, the equations all look good. I don't understand either why they aren't balancing out. Have you taken into account time dilatation?"

"Yes Henry," replied a digitized voice, a few second later. The display changed to show a different set of equation.

Henry nodded as he read through them. "And you even adjusted for the increasing gravity the deeper you go into the black hole." The man on the other screen nodded. "Stephen, would you mind if I put you on hold?" He asked as he noticed a light flashing on his board. "I've been waiting for this call. I won't be long."

"No Henry." The image of the man froze.

"Commander, what's the good news?

"Everything has been setup for Friday, tell Scott that I'll be expecting all of you for ten."

The connection cut and Henry went back to the physicist, "Now lest see if we can make those equations add up."


	3. Chapter 3

Scott walked back and forth across the observation room as he waited for the Commander to finally join them. The room didn't contain much, chairs, a cheap table with a couple of monitors on it in front of a bay window looking down on an operating theater. He kept telling himself that he wasn't pacing, but it had been almost an hour since they had been escorted and left here with only a guard to watch over them.

The others didn't seem to mind the wait too much. Ororo was reading the novel she brought, Katherine was working on her laptop, but she often glanced up at Peter with a mixture of emotions. Peter was sitting away from the others. He looked haunted. Scott had explained why they needed to do this, and he knew that on a rational level Peter did understand, but he still looked hurt when no one would look him in the eyes, especially Katherine.

Henry was standing by the bay window studying the instruments in the room below. He did that for a few minutes before taking out his portable computer and placing it on the table in front of the glass, took out the folded keyboard, the interactive screen and started typing.

"Mac, can you ask Tom to go see what's taking the Commander so long?" Scott asked him.

"You can ask him yourself," Henry said as he entered equations.

"I tried, he won't even acknowledge me. You're his boyfriend; he's got to pay attention to you."

Henry sighed and turned to Scott. "I've told you before, when he's at work," he pointed out the three cameras in the room, "under supervision, he's not my boyfriend."

Henry went back to his work and Scott to his pacing. Twenty paces in one direction, twenty in the other and he started again. He turned and made up his mind that this time he was going to get a reaction from Thomas; when the door opened and the Commander entered. Scott took one step in his direction and then froze on seeing the woman who followed him in.

He couldn't help staring at her. Her red hair seemed to be on fire as the light reflected in it. She looked up from the papers she had been studying and her green eyes met his blue.

The room and time ceased to exits.

* * * * *

They were teenagers running around in silly costume.

They were walking down a beach, hand in hand. She was laughing at a joke he'd made. Her laugh was like a stream, clear and pure.

They were facing the world, hand in hand, terrified and at the same time comforted in the knowledge they were together

They were dancing among the stars a bird of fire enveloping them.

* * * * *

The moment of eternity ended at the sound of the Commander's voice and Scott saw the flicker of surprise in her eyes too.

"This is Doctor Jean Grey, she's our foremost telepath, and you're fortunate enough that she's working for my division."

When she spoke, her voice sounded exactly like it had in that strange memory, even if her tone was fully professional. "I've gone over the files I was provided with and what I've been asked to do with Mr. Rasputin." Peter didn't react so she continued, looking at him, "you'll be given a mild sedative and I will guide you vocally and mentally through your past. I won't be exerting any actual control during the examination unless something goes wrong; you will have to do all the work." Peter nodded. She turned to the others, "since I'll be working telepathically, it's important that you all keep your minds to yourselves." She made sure to be looking at Scott as she said that.

"Sorry," he said, blushing.

* * * * *

Jean led Peter to the center of the room and had him recline in the chair. She applied electrodes to his temples and forehead while a nurse inserted the IV. She moved one of the display aside so she going sit closer to him.

She listened to his mind, waiting for it to relax and start drifting. When Peter reached that state she let herself fall into his mind; only to find herself lying on her back in a sunny clearing, with Scott feeding her fresh strawberries.

She frowned and pushed the image, as well as the sender out of her mind. She focused on Peter and entered his mind again. This time she and Scott were in a lake, splashing water at each other before moving close and kissing passionately.

Only years of training in dealing with other people's minds kept her from showing any reactions at the emotions the scene raised in her. She pushed it back and felt along the connection, back to Scott, to find that he too had no idea where the images were coming from, and that they engendered a similar reaction in him.

"Mr. Summers," having to work at keeping her tone professional, "I appreciate that you are trying to avoid broadcasting, but I think it might be best if you went in another room."

Scott turned an even deeper shade of red as the others looked at him, he could see Henry trying not to laugh.

"Sir, since you're here, maybe I can escort anyone who might be interested to the coffee shop across the street." Thomas offered.

The Commander turned the microphone on, "Doctor Grey, will across the street be far enough?"

"It should be."

The commander nodded. "Mr. Summers, if you'll follow Thomas. Is anyone else interested?"

Ororo and Katherine shook their heads, but Henry didn't hesitate to join in. "It wouldn't be wise to leave Scott without supervision considering the state he's obviously in." He offered as an explanation. Even the Commander saw that for the poorly veiled excuse that it was.


	4. Chapter 4

Scott sipped his coffee, trying to ignore the stare Henry was giving him, they were sitting on the Coffee shop's terrace. "Go ahead Mac, say it."

Henry looked like he'd remain quiet, but then, "you have a crush on someone. I never though I'd see that perfectly controlled exterior of yours crack."

"Feel better now?"

"Are you joking? I'm only getting started. I'm certain that once the shock has passed I'll be able to come up with an infinite amount of jokes to torment you with."

Thomas hid his smile behind his cup of Chai and Scott rolled his eyes in an exaggerated display of exasperation.

"Seriously 'tho," Thomas said, "You shouldn't get your hopes up, doctor Grey doesn't socialize much."

Scott nodded "I guess that being able to find out a guy's hidden motivation behind his nice actions probably doesn't lead to the best opinion of them."

"She doesn't go looking for them. From what she's mentioned it's that men don't even bother hiding their intentions. They broadcast them so loudly that she can't stop herself from hearing them."

"A beautiful woman like her and she can see just how ugly men are," Scott sighed, "God really has a lousy sense of humour. You think I'll pass muster?"

Henry and Thomas exchanged a look coming to the same conclusion, Scott had it bad.

"You're a good and honest man Scott," Thomas said patting his arm, "I'm sure she won't simply write you off as one of the sleazy ones."

"She's a mind reader, She probably already knows that you're a knight in shining armor," Henry added, before frowning and looking in the distance.

Noticing it Scott followed his gaze; a few blocks away people were gathering around a building. "What's happening?"

"An alarm has just gone off," Henry said, "I believe it's the bank."

Thomas closed his eyes, letting his sense travel through the shadows to the building. "Yes, it's the bank. There's a robbery in progress."

"How many are involved?" Scott asked.

"Six I think, no, eight."

Scott nodded, "any hostages?"

Thomas opened his eyes, "you're not thinking of getting involved, are you?"

"Why not?"

"That's what the police is for."

Henry stood. "Statistically, in this area, the response time for the police is seven minutes and twenty three seconds, in that time a well organized group of thieves will have accomplished their goal and left."

Scott did the same "You can stay here, but we're less than a minute away. We're in the best position to make sure no one gets hurt."

Thomas sighed and finished his Chai, "Since I'm the only one with anything resembling legal authority here, if anyone asks this was my idea."

"So? Any hostages?" Scott asked again as they got closer to the bank.

"Five, all on the front lobby."

Scott nodded, "where are the thieves?"

Thomas didn't even have to think about it now that they were closer, "three are watching over the hostages, two are in the back, the lunch room I think, and the other three are in the vault."

"Can you get in the vault?"

Thomas filtered through the shadows, sensing their depth, "not directly, the closest shadow that's dark enough is in the corridor leading to it."

"Ok, then you take care of them. Henry, go in through the back door see if you can reach the two in the back before they notice I'm dealing with those in the lobby."

Henry nodded "it shouldn't take me more than a minute to disable the lock and reach them." having said that he headed to an alley, and then bounded up the fire escape. Thomas followed him to the alley, but as soon as he stepped in the shadows he disappeared from view.

Scott continues to the bank, making his way through the crowd of gawkers. He reached the door and tried to find a spot through the blind that might let him see where everyone was located, but there weren't any. He pocketed his glasses and examined the lock, a simple bolt. He focused his gaze on it and released a precise beam, slicing the bolt through the space between the door and the frame. Not waiting to find out if anyone inside had noticed he opened the door and entered.

Before the door closed he had three assault riffles pointed in his direction. "Who are you, how'd you get in?" asked the larger of the three men.

Scott raised his hands "I came in through the door; I need to make a deposit."

The man looked at the one on his right "I though I told you to lock the thing."

The man glared at back, "I did. What kind of incompetent do you think I am?" and walked toward Scott, indicating with his riffle to move away from the door.

Scott did as instructed, using the time to look around; the hostages were lying on the floor at the foot of the counter. The other two men kept their riffle pointed at him on the other side of two island bolted to the floor while the other one bent down to examined the door.

"The bolt's been cut!" he exclaimed in surprise, turning toward Scott and raising his riffle.

Scott chose that time to kick the man in the face while shooting a wide beam at the other two. Because of the width it wasn't strong enough to do more then push them on their back. He then jumped over the counter as one of them raised his riffle and shot a burst in his direction.

He peered over the counter to see them getting up. He looked about the one further away and smiled as he shot the wall stand holding a television set running advertising for various bank services. It fell on the man, knocking him unconscious.

The other man shot at him again forcing him down. After a few moment of silence Scott heard the man put a new clip in his riffle

"Come out from back there, or I kill her." The man said. Scott stood with his hands in the air. The man kept his weapon pointed at someone on the ground. "That's better. You try anything mutant and I waste one of them."

Scott didn't have the chance to reply; a body flew out of the door leading to the back of the bank and collided with the gunman sending them against the wall, where they crumpled on the floor, unmoving.

Henry walked through the doorway carrying the other man over his shoulder. "I believe my timing is impeccable, as usual."

* * * * *

Thomas stepped out of the shadow in a well lit corridor. Except for the one behind him, cast by the open door all the others were very weak. He walked to the room where the thieves were, and took a quick peek to get visual confirmation of what his sense told him. There was too much light there for him to use the shadows. Fortunately he was trained not to depend on them.

Another peek showed that the three men were focused on the vault door, the one holding the blowtorch was almost done cutting through it. The two watching him held automatic pistol.

He ran toward them, not caring about making noise, one turned, raising his pistol. Thomas slipped under his arm before he could fire, grabbed the pistol, twisted, and then hit the man's elbow, breaking it. He took the pistol out of the man's hand as he turned and shoot the other one in the shoulder before he could process what had happened.

With both men down, squirming in pain he aimed at the one with the torch. "Drop it," he ordered. The man complied, turning it off first and then raising his hands.


	5. Chapter 5

Jean focused on Peter again; she stayed at the edge of his mind while Scott left the building. She was surprised that even with the distance she couldn't stop his mental voice from reaching her, she could hear his worry over having distracted her, and over what she might think of him; those made her smile a little. As he sat down at the coffee shop and steeled himself for Mac's coming jokes his voice was soft enough that she could ignore it and focus on her work.

Peter's mind was a sea of images, sounds and feelings as his thoughts wandered. "Peter," she said, verbally and mentally, "please focus on my voice," The sea calmed and then vanished. She was standing in darkness, she couldn't see anything, but she could sense walls, and 'things' crawling along them. She pulled out a little to get a sense of his mental state. He was falling asleep, the cave was at the edge of his subconscious.

She stopped the sedative, she hadn't expected him to be this exhausted. There hadn't been any mention of lack of sleep in the file.

"Peter, I need you to stay awake, can you hear me?"

"Yeah," he slowly slurred.

"You don't need to vocalize, just focus on your mind." She felt him exert his will, and he materialized before her. The cave started vanishing as his mind became conscious, but she kept it here, she wanted to see his reaction to it. "Have you been sleeping well?" she asked him as he looked at his surroundings. She could feel him wondering where they were, but there was an underlining dread he didn't want to acknowledge.

"Yes,"

"Please Peter, you don't need to impress me, I'm here to try to help you, and I can only do that if you're honest with me."

He gave her a long look and then looked down, "I've been having nightmares, and I've been worrying about my friends," and an image of Katherine appeared. She was frozen in time, in a moment where she'd been very happy. Almost immediately another image appeared; in that one she had a look of shock and fear. Behind her Scott, Henry and Ororo seemed to be looking at Peter with reproach.

She looked at them, but didn't comment. "Do you remember your nightmares?"

Peter shook his head. "No, I just wake up afraid of them." There was skittering among the shadows and Peter turned around. "Where are we? What's this place?"

"Do you recognize it?"

"No. I don't think so." Peter gasped in fear as something tried to materialize. Jean couldn't make out what it was as Peter was fighting to keep it away. "Can we go someplace else? I don't like it here."

"Alright, why don't you take me to a memory of your childhood?"

Instantly they stood in a very bright room, a giant woman sat in a giant chair. It took Jean a moment to realize they were looking at the scene form the point of view of a very young child.

"That's Babushka, my grand mother, I loved sitting in her lap, listening to her tell me stories of my mother." Peter said with a smile

As he said that a large ghostly face appeared, looking down in them kindly. "When did your mother die?" Jean asked.

"I was five months old, she caught pneumonia." The scent of a perfume and a cooing voice followed, immediately followed by a scene with a stern looking man screaming at a young Peter.

"Did your father blame you she her death?"

The scene changed slightly, the man was a little older, and Peter in his mid teen. "He never said so. He never brought her up when we argued, and we argued a lot, up till the day he found out I was a mutant and kicked me out" The scene was almost the same, but Peter was now made of metal, and his father made a clear gesture to leave. There was no sadness coming from Peter as he watched the scene.

"Have you seen you father since?"

"No, he made it clear he didn't want to see me again, and Babushka told me that in his mind I didn't exist anymore." Now there was some sadness, but it came from thinking about his grandmother. The scene changed to a graveyard. The tomb was freshly dug and the name on the stone was Tanya Rasputin, Peter was putting down flowers. "I couldn't come to the funeral, my father saw to that," An image of muscular men barring his way. "But I've been going to her grave every year."

"How did you meet Scott?"

"Ororo stopped me from doing something . . . stupid. After my father kicked me out I ended up on the streets, I joined a gang. I was with them for about a year, I'd managed to avoid doing the more criminal stuff they were involved in, but that time I wasn't given a choice, they forced me to participate to 'prove' I belonged with them. We were going to break into a rich man's house. She showed up just before we did and literally scattered us to the four winds."

Jean smiled as she watched the dark skinned woman used her control over the wind to send the gang members flying, although she was only a year older than Peter, the way she carried herself showed she wasn't just another teenager,.

"It was quite a coincidence that she was there to stop you."

Peter smiled, "it wasn't, Babushka asked her to look for me and keep me safe."

Jean nodded as she considered her next question. "What do you think of Scott?" she asked figuring she might as well get an outside opinion while she had the chance.

"Scott's a good man," Peter answered easily, "He helped convince the gang to let me go." They were in an abandoned warehouse, only Scott and Peter facing a dozen gang members. "He used his contacts in construction to get me a job. He and Ororo kept us from drifting back into our past problems."

Jean brought back the two images of Katherine. "What about her?"

Peter avoided looking at the Katherine who was scared, instead caressing the cheek of the happy one. "I love her," he said softly.

They were in a brightly lit corridor. Jean recognized the double helix symbol on the wall, with its top half unzipping, as belonging to Genietech. Katherine was kissing Peter and whispering to his ear "I have something special for you when we're done here." Before they went they separate ways.

"I never found out what that was. Now I don't know if I ever will." Peter looked up and an image of the observation room appeared, Katherine looking down at him the worry on her face making her look older than the twenty years she had. "No," he said to himself, "she's twenty-two now. I missed two years of her life, two years she spent with the other one."

Jean felt the grief and anger swell behind Peter's wall of numbness. She waited a moment to see if he would acknowledge it. When he didn't she made a note of it and then pointed in the direction the remembered Peter had run into. "What happened after this?"

The scene changed to a smaller room. Peter was in his metal form, fighting things, with the lights flickering on and off, and the constant motion he never got a good look at them, in his memory they seemed to be grotesquely deformed humans. "I came here and took down the building's power, after that I was attacked. They were strong but I held my own until." There was lightning coming from behind him, his body tensed and then shuddered before collapsing to the ground. The room fell into complete darkness.

Jean recognized the feel of the darkness as being the same as the first one. "And then?"

"I don't want to think about it." Peter said weakly.

"I know, but you have to. We need to know what happened to you, so that you can go back to your friends, so that you can convince Katherine that you are really you." Jean didn't like using even this partial lie. She had seen enough of his mind to know Peter was indeed who he said he was, but she had orders to find out what had happened to him.

"I'm afraid."

Jean took his hand. "I know, if you want I can keep the fear at bay while you do this."

Peter nodded and Jean put his fear in a box.

The darkness wasn't so complete now, sometime she could see a greenish light; there was a floating sensation. Peter had no notion of time passing except for indistinct voices coming to him as if muffled by a wall, or maybe liquid Jean realized.

Then he wasn't floating anymore. His mind was sharper and he was realizing things weren't right. He fought against his restraints and suddenly they snapped. He ran, and the images he saw made him think he was in a nightmare; they were horribly distorted reflections of himself. He ran through tunnels and then he was outside, the air fresh and sweet.

Jean memorized everything Peter saw, as he tried to orient himself, so she could transfer the images to operatives who would make sense of them. Peter ran until he reached a road, and then he was running again. He had no idea how long he ran until the door opened and Katherine looked at him in fear.


	6. Chapter 6

Jean went over her notes as the others sat down around the conference table. Thomas was still discussing the bank incident with the Commander, Scott had wanted to take responsibility for it since it was his idea, but Thomas wouldn't let him. She smiled looking at Scott; she had to admire a man willing to take the fallout of his decisions no matter what they were.

She looked down at her papers when he looked in her direction, and felt him smile warmly at her and then cover it up, hoping no one had noticed. He was slightly embarrassed at how just looking at her seemed to take away some of his self control. He wasn't used to being out of control, but he found he didn't mind it too much.

Once Thomas and the Commander were seated Jean stood "Let me start by putting your fears to rest, Peter is Peter, his mind wasn't tempered with."

There was a generalized sigh of relief, except from the Commander. "How can you be certain?" he asked her.

"As with anything dealing with the mind, I can't actually be one hundred percent certain, a telepath who is more powerful than me could have taken Peter's mind apart and rebuilt it to his or her liking and I wouldn't be able to tell, but I'm confident, based on the Intel we have on Genietech as well as the fact that I'm not aware there are telepath more powerful then me, that didn't happen."

"How could you tell if there was mechanical tempering?" The Commander asked, for the benefit of Scott and his friends.

"Any tempering, either mechanical, chemical or even behavioral leave a trace in the mind. The most obvious one is an actual 'cut' in the memory as the implanted memory or command tries to fit in. Brain washing is even easier to detect since the subconscious will remember the procedure even if the conscious mind doesn't."

The commander nodded, satisfied with the answers and looked at Scott indicating he could ask questions.

It was Henry who spoke up, putting the stylus he'd been using to write down notes, "were you able to find out how Peter was able to remember what happened before he was cloned?" He picked up the stylus and readied himself to write more.

Jean couldn't miss the hurt coming from Peter as he was referred to as a clone. "Peter remembers what happened to him, because he lived through the events. They were not 'downloaded' into his mind, if that had been the case his memories would have been 'hard' and unmalleable, his mind wouldn't be able to jump from one memory to the next since they wouldn't have any emotional connections between them."

Henry looked up from his light pad. "Then do you think it's possible for the memories to be imprinted on a genetic level? That if I cloned another Peter he would also remember everything first hand . . ." Henry trailed off as he caught Peter's downcast look. He then looked to the other to see they were looking back at him with reproach, especially Katherine. Henry turned off the screen and put away the stylus. "I'm sorry Peter, I got carried away."

Peter nodded and smiled a little, knowing that was always a risk when Henry dealt with something that was new to him.

"I'm not a geneticist Mr. McCoy," Jean said, getting a guilty pleasure out of the discomfort emanating from Henry at being addressed by his last name, "so I can't answer that. If we were to go to court, with the information I have gathered and I was put under oath, I would say that Peter isn't the clone, but the original." She made sure to keep her body under control since she knew Henry's senses could pickup many clues from her that would indicate how truthful she was being. And right now she decided Peter needed a small white lie to the cold honest truth. "There are indications in his mind that he might have gone through medical experimentations while he was held, but nothing to confirm that he is a clone."

She felt relief come from Peter and Katherine, although hers was also tinted with confusion and remorse. Henry studied her, and she could feel him work the information in his mind before nodding in acceptance.

"Do you have more questions?" The Commander asked the group. Everyone shook their head. "Then if you'll excuse me I have other duties I need to attend to. Thomas will escort you out."

Everyone stood and Scott walked to Jean. "Jean," he started, only to silently curse himself for being so familiar with her, "Doctor Grey, thank you for taking the time to help us out." he presented his hand only to realize it was sweaty so he wiped it on his pants. "I was hoping," he stammered, "I mean, I thought . . ."

Jean placed a finder on his lips to silence him "Yes Mr. Summers, I'll be happy to go on a date with you."

^You will?^ He sent to her without realizing it, ^you will,^ his mind immediately processed. ^You will!^ In his mind he was taking her in his arms and twirling her around in joy. While both of them remained standing before the other, their bodies never betraying how they felt.

"Should I call you? Or will you be calling me?" he asked, finding he was unsure how to proceed.

Jean sent her cell number to him. Once he was over the surprise of finding it was imprinted in his memory he visualized his number and sent it to her, making her wince a little

^Not so loud.^ she chastised him playfully.

"Sorry," he replied, stopping the urge he felt to kiss her, even in his mind.

As he walked back to his friends Jean could feel him starting to plan what the date would be, only to realize he had no idea what a date *should* be. Dread started to sink in as he concluded he would have to ask Henry for help, which mean admitting he had a date.

Henry sniffed the air as Scott walked by him and broke in a wide grin. He put a wide arm around Scott's shoulder and pulled him close "Don't worry, I'll help you plan your date."

Scott looked at him he should have known he would have been able to smell his state. "That's what I'm afraid of." He admitted as they left.


End file.
